michael wolfe. a little check unrevealed wolfe had been married seven times.raham, lived in alabama. velazquez called her. >> i told her, i'm investing in investigating the d disappearance of david jackson. she said to me, how much evidence do you have against him? i said, i can't discuss the evidence with you, but i can tell you that it's enough for me to put him away right now. i was just totally bluffing. i have really, nothing. i am just throwing it out there. fishing that long line. if something bites, i reeling it in. she says, honey, let me call you back. >> the minutes tick by. velazquez waited by the phone. and when nancy called back, what she said blew the case wide open. >> she started telling me about who was involved. how it happened. where it happened. what they did. how he did it. how they planned it. >> they? why, yes. they. and by the way, beware the sting of an ex-wife's tale. >> she says, i'm going to tell you everything you need to know. >> michael wolfe's ex-wife nancy has a jaw-dropping story to share. and it will send the investigation i

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> there is breaking news this hour on the hostage crisis in gaza. hamas releasing a video of a woman it claims to be holding captive. our correspondents are standing by, covering the israel/hamas war on multiple fronts. first, let's go tower chief international correspondent clarissa ward in ashkelon, israel north of the gaza border. tell us more about this video just released and what we're hearing from hamas. >> that's right, wolf. hamas says now that they have between 200 and 250 hodges. important to underscore that israel defense forces say it's 199. but tonight for the first time, hamas has released a video of one of those hostages. we are not going to show it for the moment, but it shows a 21-year-old french israeli citizen called mia the shem. she was one of the many revellers at the supernova music festival. in the video she talks about suffering an injury to her arm. it's not clear where she is being held, and of

wolf?excellent reporting, thank you very much. >>> just ahead, another live report from israel, as crucial u.s. military supplies arrive. >>> we are following breaking news on capitol hill. jim jordan is the latest republican nominee for speaker of the house. can he unite his party on the house floor? >>> we will get back to breaking news on israel's escalating war against hamas in a moment. there's other breaking news we are following right now here in washington. house republicans have just nominated congressman jim jordan for speaker of the house. his path to a majority is unclear, at least at this hour. let's bring in our chief congressional correspondent manu raju. he is on capitol hill. manu, what are republicans saying about whether jordan can ultimately win enough votes on the floor of the house to become speaker? >> many of them are concerned, wolf, that he simply will meet the same fate as others, including steve scalise, who initially won the republican nomination to be speaker a

>> not a lot, wolf. that sort of thing we don't talk about but as the military operation goes forward and the pressure is ratcheted up, maybe some ethics going on behind the scenes to release the hostages, we'll see that move forward and expedite the release of the hostages. >> you're an adviser to prime minister netanyahu. i know he posted recently some criticism of the idf and israel defense forces, the military intelligence and the domestic intelligence service for failing to appreciate what hamas was about to do to move into israel from gaza and slaughter more than 1,000 israelis in the process. he later apologized. said he was sorry for that. he hasn't personally even though he's the prime minister of israel, taken responsibility for what's happened. should he? >> he has said publicly what happened on october 7th was a huge disaster for israel. >> he didn't apologize. >> he said when this is over, everyone including himself, will face an inquiry, have to answer questions from the top down, he said.

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." ♪ >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> and let's get right to the breaking news on the release of two israeli hostages and how it figures into this war against hamas. cnn journalists are working the story in the region as well as here in washington. first, let's go to cnn's erin burnett, joining us live from tel aviv right now. erin, what are we learning about these freed hostages? >> reporter: wolf, we know there are two more hostages released tonight, that gives family reason to celebrate. nurit cooper, 79 years old, she's a teacher. she has been released along with yocheved lifshitz who is 85 years old, a photographer, and actually she was one of the founders of the kibbutz where both women were abducted from nir oz. ambulances were seen arriving from rafah, from gaza, from the rafah crossing into egypt soon after the hostage release had been negotiated and obviously there's speculation that perhaps these two women could be inside them. they'

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the "situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> our breaking news coverage begins this hour in the war zone as the israel hamas conflict grows increasingly deadly. and they're holding very critical talks. cnn at the front lines and other key locations getting new information what's happening on the ground right now and what may happen next. first, let's go to our chief international correspondent, elissa ward, you visited a cub but, now being used by the idf troops. what did you see? >> reporter: that's right. this is the place where some of the atrocities were perpetrated. it was interesting when we arrived on the scene it was taken over by a symbolic gesture by the israeli military and by the artillery brigade, we saw a lot of troops and hardware and artillery. there was no sense talking to the soldiers they were on super high alert or super high level of preparedness in terms of an imminent imminent move forward in some way but certainly fair to say there is now a

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> tonight israeli leaders are renewing their vow to crush hamas as the world is getting a fuller picture of the scope and the horror of the hamas attack that triggered this increasingly deadly middle east war. our correspondents are covering all the breaking news on multiple fronts. first, let's go to our chief international correspondent, clarissa ward. she's joining us from israel. clarissa, you were among some of the first journalists to see the kibbutz where more than a hundred people were killed by hamas on saturday. tell our viewers what you saw. >> reporter: well, wolf, the scale of the destruction, honestly, was just mind blowing. it has taken days and days for the israeli military to even take the step of allowing journalists into this kibbutz because of the scale and amount of hamas fighters there with the army for days on end. . you can see the aftermath and the horror for those who described it going door to d

>> that's right, wolf. for the second time since the attack over the weekend, president biden speaking with prime minister benjamin netanyahu and again offering his condolences for the suffering that the country has seen and also pledging the u.s.'s full support. according to the white house's read out of this call, president biden updated the prime minister on the intensive diplomatic engagement undertaken by the united states over the last 24 hours in support of israel. the president also conveyed that additional assistance for the israeli defense forces is now on its way with more to follow over the coming days. of course, this is a reference to u.s. military assets that are being moved quickly to the region at a very rapid clip and of course, administration officials tell us that they are continuing on a rolling basis to have discussions about what additional aid the u.s. will provide israel in the coming days. >> is the white house concerned that all the dysfunction in the house of representatives righ

our coverage continues now with wolf blitzer snt situation room. i'll see you sunday morning. >>> happening now, breaking news. a first look at two americans who were just freed by hamas. a mother and daughter now safe in israel. we're learning more about this initial release of hostages as dozens of others are still being held by hamas in war torn gaza. this hour, trucks packed with life-saving aid to gaza remain stuck in egypt and may not get through the crossing for at least another 24 to 48 hours. the crisis in gaza at a desperate new level as angry crowds take to streets across the middle east in protest. >>> also tonight, house republicans are starting over in their search for a speaker. extending two weeks of chaos and paralysis. jim jordan forced to drop out after losing a third floor vote and a secret ballot that sealed his face. >>> plus a huge new development into the georgia election subversion case. lawyer ken chesebro accepting a plea deal and admitting into open court to conspiring with donald trump to put forward a slate of fake ele

>> thank you, wolf. the situation now is that we have secured the south, we no longer have hundreds of terrorists streaming across the border trying to kill our civilians. we still have forces that are going house by house making sure that none of them are left, hundreds went across the border two days ago, entered into more than 20 up ttowns and cities. at the same time, as your viewers note, we are undergoing indiscriminate rocketfire. >> so, is it true that israel is now in full control of all of its land at this hour? >> yes, that is correct. we have fortified the border fence on gaza as well. we have streamed forces down there, and they are working to make sure that the entire south is safe and secure. >> prime minister netanyahu said today that the israeli airstrikes in gaza, in his words, are only the beginning. are we looking right now at a ground war here as well? >> well, hamas' attacks are continuing. the rocketfire is continuous. i'm sitting here in tel aviv. my children are continuously goin

i'm wolf blitzer.ou're in "the situation room." ♪ >>> first up tonight, donald trump raising a new defense in the federal election subversion case against him. the former president claiming immunity and asking the judge to toss it out altogether. let's get details from our senior legal affairs correspondent, paula reid. what is trump arguing? >> reporter: well, wolf, as you know, the special counsel has charged former president trump, alleging that he plotted, along with his allies, to illegally stay in office, even after he lost the 2020 election. but now, his lawyers are insisting the entire case should be thrown out, arguing that he was "only trying to ensure election integrity." and in their filing today, they've dismissed the allegations from prosecutors that trump "knew that widespread reports of fraud and election irregularities were untrue." they're also arguing that the then-president's actions were within the ambit of his office, so he's absolutely immune from prosecution. now, they have made

wolf? >> just curious, jeremy, while i have you, just a few moments ago we did see rockets coming in, presumably from gaza, the iron dome intercepting them and blowing them up in the sky, right over the heart of tel aviv where i am. you're further south in ashkelon. are you seeing rockets and missiles coming in from where you are? >> yeah. there have been rockets in this area, wolf, and the next town over just to the north here in a ashkelon they had direct hits. several people were injured in the strike. when we were inn sderot we had rockets fired over. what we're seeing in gaza in terms of the number of casualties from israeli bombings and air strikes and other explosions, we have seen instances where hamas has been firing rockets from residential areas and have misfired according to the israel defense forces and have caused casualties inside of gaza as well. what is clear the toll of casualties inside of gaza is continuing to mount in a way that really eclipses anything else that we hav

wolf? >> very significant indeed. is there any evidence so far that any of these military reservists who have been activated have been called up for duty right now, as a result of this war, are refusing to serve because of their earlier opposition to netanyahu government's judicial overhaul program? >> reporter: no, not yet, and we actually did hear from one of those major organizations representing those reservists. they call themselves brothers and sisters in arm. they sent out a statement quite early on the day calling on the reservists to heed the call to serve during this time and to go to their duty when called. according to the israeli military, they have not had, at least they have not recorded any significant effect on their preparedness or on reservists who are saying they will not serve as a result of this. this is the major test, everybody has been talking about, as a result of the judicial overhaul that netanyahu has planned and reservists saying i'm not going to serve a govern

wolf? >> what can you tell us about that dramatic moment when trump actually stormed out of this trial? >> reporter: yeah. this all happened within an hour, wolf, so it was a very tense situation in that courtroom within that happened. this is happening in the cross-examination of michael cohen. essentially it was all in relation to a 2019 congressional hearing where cohen testified that trump -- he didn't recall trump telling him to basically manipulate the financial statements, you know, to reflect the net worth that trump wanted. well, that was brought up yesterday -- rather when he was being directed by the state's attorneys where he essentially laid out how he would manipulate the newspaper and trump wanted him. in cross-examination they brought back up the 2019 testimony and asked essentially did you lie? were you lying to corning and he stood, michael cohen, by his testimony in 2019. for trump's camp they think this is a big lie. he's flip-flopping his statements, and they asked the

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> let's get straight to the breaking news tonight. the former trump white house chief of staff, mark meadows, reportedly offering damning testimony against the former president to special counsel jack smith in exchange for immunity. that's according to abc news. our chief legal affairs correspondent paula reid is gathering details for us. paula, what can you tell us? >> wolf, cnn previously reported that mark meadows had testified before a federal grand jury investigating former president trump. now we're learning more about what he has reportedly told investigators. now, according to reports, he's spoken with investigators three times over the past year and he's told them that in the weeks following the 2020 election, he says that he told trump that his allegations of significant voter fraud were baseless. now, that is such a significant break from the rhetoric of former president trump. it's also a significant break fro

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> we're kepeping a very close eye on the conflict in gaza. we're now just two hours away from the president's rare prime time oval office address to the nation. he's set to lay out the stakes for americans as war rages in the middle east as well as in ukraine. our correspondents are standing by in israel and on the front lines at this very dangerous moment in the war against hamas. let's start with kaitlan collins. she's joining us from tel aviv. what do we expect president biden to say tonight? >> reporter: well, wolf, it's o only the second time you've seen president biden sit behind that resolute desk in the oval office and address the nation in prime time. i think it speaks to the gravity he is bringing to this message tonight. not only talk about the importance of sending aid here to israel but also more funding for the war in ukraine. taiwan, a major concern he's had that he believes ukraine could have a massive ef

>> couple of thing, wolf. first of all, they've had several years to build up these weapons, caches. we have seen hamas and hezbollah for that matter have gradually increased their capability with different types of rockets. we're seeing some of the rockets come out of gaza now that used to be able to hit ashkalon, about 20 kilometers north of the strip, now can reach jerusalem and tel aviv, which are much further away. anti tank guided missile systems that are going to be prevalent on this battlefield. some of the weapons we saw in the film just now not only the ak 47 but the heavy duty machine gun are things that we haven't seen hamas have before. the heavy machine guns, and what i suggest is even though the narrater said the rockets being shot out of gaza could shoot down aircraft, that's not quite true. those are ground to ground roc rockets but there are indicators and intelligence that said hamas is also got air defense systems. shoulder fired sa 6s, sa 9s. so they have expanded their capability with sni

wolf? >> thanks, fred. as israel masses forces along the gaza border, speculation remains high about when an israeli ground offensive could begin in gaza. cnn's jeremy diamond is in israel for us. what's the latest on the state of israel's forces? what are you learning? >> reporter: wolf, we were driving along the gaza border today and we saw several massing of tanks, armored personnel carriers and d9 bulldozers the israeli forces use ahead of a ground invasion to clear the roads of ieds and other obstacles in their way. these were large, i would say altogether we saw several hundred tanks, armored personnel carriers, and these armored vehicles, as well as infantry troops staging in the area, artillery nearby as well. so all of this very much appears to be the preparations for this ground invasion that we have been waiting for. and it goes along with the comments that we are hearing from top israeli generals that tonight israel's military chief of staff saying, quote, we will enter the gaza strip, telling t

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> let's get to the deadly attacks on both sides of the israel gaza border as israeli forces respond to the terror unleashed by hamas, fighters with all out war. our corres correspondents are o scene where the dangerous and historic conflict is gongoing. first, to cla rissa ward. what are you seeing where you are tonight? >> reporter: just relentless bombardment going both ways. rocketing coming in and heavy, heavy strikes on the gaza strip. for the last few hours, it has been significantly quieter than we've heard really since we have been here. it's not clear why that is. we also were a little surprised when we heard from the prime minister. he gave a speech in which he did not spell out an imminent ground invasion though everything is still on the table. and now i think there's a sort of, a lull of sorts and everybody kind of paralyzed with anxiety about what is coming next. particularly with regards to those hostages. w

in these parts, the big bear is called nothing more than a big wolf, and although it was the wolf thatepicted on the city’s coat of arms since the 19th century, they did not dare to place it on the modern coat of arms for a long time, they say the animal is not very noble, but in the end the volkovysk wolf was recognized as no worse the roman she-wolf in silver has a blue field, although there are detractors who claim that the volkovysk wolf is too thin, and this is also not all historical facts about vaukavysk. volkovysk is an ancient small town that was part of three states until it became belarusian in the fourth. the first written mention dates back to 1005; in the 16th century the city received magdeburg law. over more than a thousand years of history, bolkovysk has been captured and destroyed by foreign troops more than once. the city is conveniently located at the crossroads of roads and railways. there are large agro-industrial and construction enterprises here. a wolf, or rather, as the local she-wolves say, appeared on the square millennium of the city, they say, rub your nos

wolf, are you there with us? >> i just wanted to point out, sara, it's really important to be wearing that helmet. i was there covering a war a few years ago not in tel aviv, but along the border in ashkelon, and even when these rockets are coming in from hamas toward tel aviv and the israeli iron dome anti-missile system goes up, the intercepters go in and take out the rockets and missiles, the debris that begins to fall down from these rockets, that can be very deadly as well. that's why everyone, as soon as those sirens going off, they have to go into a bomb shelter, get into an area, a stairwell, where they can be away from the outside. all that debris coming down from the intercepted rockets could potentially be very deadly. i'm glad you've got that helmet on at a minimum. it's a very dangerous situation that's unfolding. >>> jeremy diamond is joining us from jerusalem. what more are we learning from the israel defense forces about what's going on right now? >> reporter: well, wolf, the israel defense forces

wolf?> i've been speaking to my sources in israel. what bothers me is that this could escalate dramatically especially since bala in southern lebanon started launching missiles against another civilian area in northern israel right now. how worried should the israelis be that this could escalate? not only attacks coming from gaza, but also from the occupied west bank? especially from lebanon, southern lebanon where ÃÃhas been armed with many missiles by iran? >> as you know, palestinian jihad on the west bank is very powerful force on the west bank particularly in the north by iran. so iran will have a lot of levers to pull on this one, but and this is important. but the idea of whatever they may say public know in private that there is essentially a kind of understanding between hamas and israel kind of mutually assured destruction. hamas does have thanks to the iranians a really vast armory of rockets with which they could threaten every inch. of israeli territory. the israelis of course

wolf. >> very quickly.hat town of kiryat shmona is a town of about 20,000 people, not far from lebanon. i take it the israeli military told everyone in kiryat shmona to evacuate. have they done so? is the town pretty much empty right now? >> reporter: most of them have evacuated. it wasn't a mandatory evacuation. it's not mandatory for any of these communities, in fact. they're being strongly advised to get out and put in guesthouses if they haven't got anywhere else to stay. most people in kiryat shmona at least have taken that advice and have left. but you are seeing people coming back in the daytime to check on their houses and to cook meals for the army and things like that. it's not entirely empty at the moment. >> matthew chance in northern israel, stay safe over there. thank you very much. we'll check back with you soon. >>> cnn is also learning about a new push from the biden administration to try to delay a possible full-scale israeli ground incursion into gaza. our chief national security correspo

>> thank you, wolf. >>> coming up, there's growing alarm over rising anti-semitism and islamophobia in the united states. what the fbi director is now saying about this danger. >>> i'll get an update from new york state governor kathy hochul after authorities took a person into custody following a series of online threats made against cornell university's jewish community. >>> let's get back to the breaking news right now. israel confirming an air strike against gaza's largest refugee camp, the target, a senior hamas commander who was in that refugee camp, according to the israelis. officials in gaza say scores of palestinian civilians were casualties as well. let's go to our chief national security analyst jim sciutto on the ground in northern israel. update our viewers, what's the latest? >> reporter: wolf, still assessments under way as to the extent of civilian casualties, and also the result of this strike. first on the casualties, reports on the ground for as many as hundreds of killed and wounded.

wolf? >> the actual battle got messy today with candidates committing to a televised debate and pulling out. what's the latest on the fight for the speakership? >> there's been a lot of whiplash inside the house republican party. both steve scalise and jim jordan ended up backing out from the planned televised interview from fox nuts supposed to take place monday. they backed out hours after the event was announced because they were receiving blow back from within their party, particularly from moderate republicans who i was hearing from who said this was a horrible idea. they communicated the concerns and frustrations who ultimately decided to back out of the event. it speaks to how much uncertainty there is in the house gop and how much sensitivity and how much raw emotions are still running through the republican conference. both scalise and jordan have been trying to win over those moderates. that is going to be a key constituency. jim jordan picked up another backing. we'll see whether

wolf?todd reporting, thank you, brian. >>> just ahead, a teenage girl is hospitalized after allegedly being assaulted by iran's so-called morality police in an incident reminiscent of the one that set off nationwide protests. >>> a teenage girl in iran is hospitalized now after allegedly being assaulted by the so-called morality police. this comes a little more than a year after a similar incident involving mahsa amini, the young woman who died after being arrested for not wearing a head scarf. her death triggered nationwide protests across iran. cnn's jomana karadsheh looks at the latest incident. >> reporter: wolf, iranian activist groups are accusing the morality police of accusing the 16-year-old girl in a tehran metro station for not wearing the mandatory hijab. activists say that armita geravand has been in a coma since sunday. she was admitted to hospital with head trauma. we have not yet been able to independently verify this information. state affiliated media posted a video of a g

wolf? >> yes, and this is the end of the jewish holiday as well, and it is also the sabbath, the shabbat in israel, similar to what happened 50 years ago during the yom kippur war. >>> we will go to our cnn white house reporter and national security reporter natasha bertrand. mj, what is the white house saying this morning? >> well, wolf, for right now, we have gotten word that president biden was fully briefed by the national security team this morning on the situation, this is a situation that the white house describes as the appalling hamas terrorist attack in israel. we also expect that the president is going to address this situation sometime later today. we just don't know yet exactly what format that is going to come in. we also expect that the president is going to be speaking directly with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, so we will hopefully get a read-out of that phone call as soon as that conversation has happened. for right now, womp, we can tell you that u.s. officials are v

>> thank you, wolf. relatively we're okay. we're safe.s you said, we were in the safe room of our home in -- our beautiful community loebcated o the the border with gaza for ten hours on saturday with no food, no electricity, no cell reception for most of the time. my two daughters were real heroes. they kept silent for the entire time, behaved in extremely pature way that i didn't believe a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old were capable. but they understand the severity through our emotions of the situation and they stayed silent until we were rescued. and yet, i have to say, israel is grieving right now. yesterday was one of the darkest days if not the darkest day in the history of our country. we lost approximately 700 people so far, that is like more than half of the second anti-fatah which lasted for five years but so our situation was very tough and we were close to dying at some point. but many other people suffered much more terrible situation and this is right now a very, very sad and difficult situation. >> yes, so glad that you and y

[knocking] frankie gonzales-wolfe. running for city council district 8. - oh, okay. - beautiful dog. i worked for wells fargo as a vp in hr, learning and development, so my background is taking an organization from its current state and moving them into their future state. that is what i do. - [dylan] julian castro, the former mayor, has said that san antonio and its makeup and demographics represents what the country will be in the next 10, 20, 30 years, and i think district 8 is the embodiment of that. - i'm a proud wife to a military veteran. i am a proud latina, but most of all, i'm very proud to be a trans woman. [crowd cheering] [kisses] i love y'all. - good luck. - go frankie. - go frankie! - [frankie] thank you. - yay, frankie. [crowd conversing] - do you know how many lies i had to tell today? the amount of volunteers... i think that was the only thing. [laughs] but we got to look like we're moving. - [jeff] what are you going to do to your hair? - curl it. running for office is a big performance. i'm really a

i'm wolf blitzer in for erin burnett. and, tonight, live from here in tel aviv, there's breaking news. israel claiming to have hit 300 targets in gaza over the past 24 hours alone. one of those targets, a refugee camp just north of gaza city where israel says a very senior hamas commander was located. explosions rocked the refugee camp just hours ago, flattening apartment buildings and leaving behind a giant crater. cnn capturing a massive dark cloud rising over northern gaza around the same time as the strike. though cnn cannot fully confirm that the video shows the airstrike carried out at the jabalya refugee camp. he was waiting in line to buy bread when several missiles were fired from an f-16. and i'm quoting now. there were seven to eight huge homes in the ground full of killed people. body parts all over the place. it felt like the end of the world. the doctor of the hospital in a hamas-controlled area says he seen hundreds of dead bodies and injured patients. but an idf official telling me tonight that the number

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following the volatile and complicated aftermath of the deadly hospital explosion in gaza. the u.s. offering a more detailed and definitive assessment that israel was not responsible. president biden just weighed in aboard air force one as he flies home from his high stakes trip to israel and prepares for a prime time address to the nation tomorrow. correspondents are covering all the breaking news in the middle east as well as here in the united states. first, let's go to chief c correspondent, kaitlan collins, from tel aviv. tell us more about the president's address tomorrow night and what he's saying now about his trip to israel. >> it's notable what the white house said that president biden is going to be talking about tomorrow night when he makes that value office address at 8:00 p.m. of course, that is obviously a venue that is typically reserved for the most serious and somber of addresses that any u.s. pre

>> good afternoon, wolf. i think the hostages issue is an issue but when i spoke to several israeli officials today what they told me is they're not looking for another gesture like the one we've seen a few days ago with two hostages that were released. they are saying that they are willing to give more time if we are talking about a big deal meaning all of the hostages, all the women, all the children, all of the elderly in one tronch. it doesn't seem at the moment that such a deal might be possible so i think a ground operation in gaza is just a matter of when and not if but there is another reason for the delay that doesn't have to do with the hostages. it has to do with the threat for u.s. forces in the region. and what i heard from israeli officials is that the u.s. asked for more time in order to get more forces in the region to protect u.s. troops and take preparedness measures in u.s. bases in the region because i think the pentagon and the white house are concerned that once an israeli ground operati

wolf? >> ben wedeman on the scene, stay safe. >>> let's go to tel aviv where we're joined by a spokesman for the israeli defense forces. thank you for joining us on this very important day with all the breaking news. as far as this deadly gaza hospital blast, you and other spokespeople for the idf categorically deny that israel was behind this blast at the gaza hospital. you say it was a palestinian jihad rocket that failed and exploded. i understand the idf says it has evidence to support this. what is the evidence and what does it show? >> yes, wolf, exactly. we have just released for the international media a video footage from a uav. we're going to release additional intelligence, basically a conversation intercepted between various terrorist where they, unknowing of the fact that we were listening, confirmed that they understand it was a rocket that misfired. as the time goes by, what we've done -- it took us sometime because we wanted to be sure of the information before we say anythi

wolf? >> kyung lah reporting, thank you. for more on this story, i'm joined now by cnn political commentators alice stewart and karen finney. karen, you know laphonza butler, you know her well. >> yeah. >> how do you see her taking on this historic role? >> i think she is going to be excellent, and i'm so proud of her. she is someone who is very steeped both in policy and politics. she is a brilliant political strategist on the policy side. as you heard kyung lah say, she is someone who leading sciu has worked on behalf of home health care workers, janitors, window cleaners. so she understands issues like raising the minimum wage, which she helped to make happen in california. she was also critically important in 2022. not only in her role on emily's list, electing, again, a record number of women. but she was one of the people who first was seeing in the data and feel the ground that reproductive rights was going to be a key issue. and she helped make that case to others in our party. >> if she does decide to throw her hat

wolf blitzer in washington. anderson cooper in israel.hank you both. >> thanks. >>> also tonight, of course there is a cliffhanger happening in congress as things are about to get very intense in that dome in the next 24 hours. it is truly anyone's guess tonight what is going to happen. how the speaker battle that is playing out in washington could affect military aid that wolf was just mentioning to israel. we'll speak to a lawmaker next. the house republican conference i should note is set to hold secret ballot elections soon as 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. but it is still not clear tonight here at 9:49 p.m. if either of them can get 217 votes, which would be needed. republican congressman mike lawler is here -- of new york is here and joins me now. congressman, first let's start on aid to israel because president biden is asking congress to take that urgent action. how does that happen given there is no house speaker tonight? >> well, this is precisely why kevin mccarthy never should have been removed as speaker to begin with. you had e

residents is not surprising, this animal is the symbol of the wolf hunter, well wolf, wait, and we will its flag, and recently wolves can still be seen on the streets. don’t be alarmed, the predator settled in the central square back in 2005, when local residents celebrated the city’s millennium. the wolf is always on the alert, keeps his ears sharp and his nose to the wind, and the city will not give offense. by the way, this is the only monument. sculpture of this animal in belarus. why do you think the locals are so smooth with each other? live? yes, because they know that you can’t go against the grain, you need affection, kindness, and the way to the heart of this predator also lies through stroking, they say that if you rub its nose, it will definitely bring good luck, let’s check. please note that not only the animal’s nose is polished to a shine, but also... its back , i believe, so that luck comes as quickly as possible, they even tell a story here about how someone, riding a wolf, got a big win, believe it or not , or not. a stone's throw from the sculpture of the main symbol

but wolf, you recall in 2006, shalid was taken prisoner by hamas. in 2011 the israelis engaged in an asymmetrical hostage exchange, 1,079 palestinian prisoners for shalid. i suspect that that has -- the redemption of israeli citizens and soldiers in combat is a high priority for this country. i suspect sooner or later you are going to have to see a negotiation if, in fact, those large numbers of people, we don't know how many, going to be released. >> yeah, this issue of these hostages being taken and brought to gaza is a huge, huge problem. and i know it's dominating so much thinking in israel right now. everyone, stay with us. we're going to continue our analysis. up next, israel is currently on the edge after a series of these deadly attacks from palestinian mili militants, hamas in gas. we'll get reaction -- gaza. we'll get reaction from the pentagon and i'll speak with former defense secretary william co-not. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no proble

wolf? >> second day in a row the president of the united states has been warning about an increase of potential anti-semitic incidents at jewish synagogues, schools, other areas of high jewish concentration here in the united states. we'll watch that part of the story as well. kayla tausche, thank you very much. >>> a united nations envoy estimates hamas is holding as many as 150 hostages right now in gaza. cnn's becky anderson is in tel aviv with more on this part of the story. you've been talking with relatives of some of those captured or killed by hamas. what are they telling you? >> reporter: we heard from the families of four americans today who are presumed hostages with hamas in gaza. one of those is sagi deckal shen, a 35-year-old young man with two kids and a baby on the way. his wife is pregnant. they lived at the kibbutz which has been completely annihilated by the hamas mill tappeds who rampaged through that kib buttes on saturday morning. his father, jonathan, says his son has

my colleague, wolf blitzer, is live for us in tel aviv, israel. welcome to our continuing breaking news coverage of israel at war. prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying today the second stage of its war, the ground war, has begun. >> what the hell is that? >> just minutes ago, the sound of gunfire and explosions lighting up the sky. this is cnn's nic robertson's position just a mile from israel's border with gaza. a new escalation of the conflict with a singular goal according to israel, to destroy the military and government of hamas. >> translator: heroic fighters have one goal -- to destroy this enemy and to make sure the existence in our country. never again, never again is now. >> as each hour goes by, more evidence that the conflict is escalating. this video was shot by a cnn producer in gaza. it captures rockets being fired into israel. >> and cnn's sara sidner and her team captured this video of a rocket barrage over tel aviv earlier today. israel's iron dome defense system intercepted these incoming rockets from gaza. civilians in nort

>> reporter: hi there, wolf.t certainly is something that is extremely troubling, certainly not just for the jewish people in russia, but probably around the world. essentially what it appears had happened is that a protest that took place because a plane from tel aviv was going to land in the capital of the dagestan region of russia, that's in the north, a muslim majority region of russia. because that plane was going to land that's when the protesters showed up and they forced themselves on to the tarmac and on to the runway. all of this essentially descended into a hunt targeting jews. we saw some images coming out from that area of the protesters then surrounding several of the people who got off that plane, one of them appeared to be an uzbek man who said, i'm uzbek, i don't speak the uzbek language but they claimed that he was trying to fool them, demanded to see his passport and phone as well. there was a bus that was stopped carrying parents with several children who apparently were getting medical treatm

and people inside gaza, wolf, are unable to reach their loved ones. they don't know if they survived the bombardment last night. an absolutely devastating situation. and even before this intensification that we're seeing right now, people in gaza, wolf, were telling us that they have gotten to a point where it's no longer a case of if they survive, they have now -- they've gone to a point where it is how are they going to die and when are they going to die. mothers telling us that they were praying that if they die, they die together with their children so they don't end up injured on their own in hospitals. israel says it is targeting hamas, it doesn't target civilians, that it is hamas that is using people as human shields. but as you know, the reality on the ground, this is one of the most densely populated places in the world, besieged territory, where you have more than 2 million people, about half of them children. what we are seeing is they are the ones paying the heaviest price, wolf. >> an important point, indeed. thank you for that update. w

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> let's get right to the breaking news. on the manhunt in maine and the loud bangs heard near just recently the suspected mass shooter's last known home. our brian todd is at that address for us right now. brian, do we know any more about the bangs and where this search stands right now? >> reporter: wolf, we do know that fbi personnel approached this house a short time ago. we just got here. one of our colleagues was here. he said a short time ago, several large bangs came from the house. you can see the roof of the house only over that ridge. what scott us, is a neighbor told him that fbi percentage necessarily, as they approached the house screamed fbi, come out now, and there were large bangs. they could have been flash bangs. our josh campbell said that could be standard procedure when they approach any house. police and fbi are still at that house, and we've been pushed way back in this perimeter as the l

well , wolf, wait, and we will get acquainted with the city. welcome.ral, predators are everywhere here, they are located on the city’s coat of arms on its flag, and recently wolves can still be seen on the streets. don't be scared, in the central square the predator registered back in 2005, local residents celebrated the city's millennium. the wolf is always on the alert, keeps his ears sharp and his nose to the wind, and the city will not give offense. by the way, the monument is the only sculpture of this animal in belarus. do you think why the locals live so smoothly with each other, because they know you can’t go against the grain, you need affection, kindness, so the way to the heart of this predator also lies through stroking, they say that if you rub his nose, it will definitely bring good luck, let's check, pay attention, the beast is rubbed to a shine not only the nose, and the back, i believe, so that... it comes as quickly as possible, they even tell a story about how someone, riding a wolf, got a big win, here , believe it or not, two steps

>> wolf, it certainly seems that way. you can keep soldiers in a crouch at a heightened sense of readiness only for a certain amount of time, and the israeli leadership will be aware of that, of course. but i think they also want to be very careful trying to get the hostages. i imagine that's the first priority for them to recover as many hostages as possible and avoid rushing in with ground forces. obviously hamas would want them to do that. i think they're trying to find that balance. >> what do you think a full-scale israeli ground invasion of the enormous size we anticipated, what would that look like for those in gaza who are unable to escape in time? >> i expect the israelis are going to do what we would call a reconnaissance pull to put elements out there not just to go drive into town with tanks and bulldozers necessarily until they've got reconnaissance elements to gather intelligence about what's out in front of them so they're not going in blind. so a combination of ground reconnaissance as well as the other so

my colleague wolf blitzer is live for us in tel aviv, israel.he international tension stoked by israel and gaza. we are seeing this remarkable video from the southern russian republic of dagestan. a crowd some waving palestinian flags forced their way into an airport after a flight from tel aviv landed earlier today. russian state media says the crowd was protesting the israel-hamas war. in gaza city right now, an aid organization says nearby israeli air strikes have caused extensive damage to the second largest hospital there. the palestinian red crescent society says that's endangering the lives of patients. 12,000 displaced citizens are also sheltering there. >> gun fire and explosions echo around much of gaza as israel's ground offensive expands according to cnn analysis published by an israeli media outlet meanwhile they fire into gaza from israel. >> amid all of this, iran's president said today that israel's offensive on gaza has, quote, crossed the red line. his words, crossed the red line. this is not the first warning from an iranian o

wolf? >> very disturbing developments. very worrisome develops for all of us that have covered middle east over many, many year like you and i have. jum, thank you so much pncht ultraorthodox jewish men are often exempt from military service, but now many are now volunteering for duty. here's sara sidner with more on t that. all right. we'll get this report right after this break. stay with us. >>> still ahead, mike pence is out of the running for the republican nomination. he's repeatedly faced anger from his former boss for refusing to block the certification of the 2020 election. police officer harry dunn who defended the capital on that day has just written a book about that experience. he joins us live. stay with us for that as well as sara sidnener's importrtant rep on herer reportingng there in n israel.. we'll bebe right bacack. >>> ultraorthodox jewish men are often exempt from military service in israel, but now many are volunteering for duty after the october 7th hamas attack. here's cnn's sara sidner with more.

i am joined now here in washington by cnn's wolf blitzer.ou just spoke with israel's president. what did he tell you? >> it was a very, very passionate interview that we just taped and we will show it to our viewers, and very substantive, as well. he was very emotional in describing what is going on in israel right now. we want to warn our viewers that some of the images he shared with us during the course of this interview are graphic. >> and joining us now, the president of israel, isaac herzog, mr. president. thank you so much for joining us. it's been a horrendous few days and since the holocaust. you are the leader of israel, what is your message to the nation and to all jewish people in mourning? >> and i think the entire humanity. i just got back from kibbutz be'eri. the kibbutz is an epitomization of social and equality and very pro-peace place. you should know that in that kibbutz they lost 10% of their members from young to old. i saw the most hor rific scenes. -- i saw -- i saw the skull of a woman in which house i visited, the ho

>> well good evening, wolf. very, very difficult and complex. i've been in a strike cell making that kind of a call against a high value target in a populated area. you know, israeli forces are extremely good. in something like this, sometimes it may call for tactical and operational patience. once you have a target then you track that target. you track him with your manned and unmanned ariel equipment and all sorts of systems and sensors. maybe that was the only shot they had and had to take it. it's a difficult call to do, but i've seen it where once we have that high value target, we're able to track that target to a location away from a populated area because they'll make a mistake at some point. let's remember, hamas has put the palestinian people in jeopardy by having leaders hide behind innocent civilians. >> is that what the u.s. would do if there was a target, say an al qaeda or isis target, a high commander in a very populated refugee camp with a lot of men, women, and children all over the place, would the u.s. do what the israelis cl

let's send it over to wolf in israel.olf. >> we're waiting to hear directly from prime minister benjamin netanyahu in just a few minutes. we'll bring you that news conference. he's going to take questions as well. once it begins, we'll bring it to you live. sara sidner is here with me in tel aviv. she's been watching all these latest developments unfold. update our viewers on what is going on. it's a very tense situation. >> it is. so we just saw an hour ago rockets coming over, being intercepted by the iron dome. there were at least a half dozen of them. something that used to be you didn't hear about happening in tel aviv much, but since this war we've seen a large number of rockets. yesterday there was an apartment that was hit, because the iron dome is not 100% perfect, about 90% sure. so three people were injured here yesterday. we also saw some things getting hit in ashkelon as well. when there are so many rockets coming over, the iron dome can only do so much. it has done quite an incredible job when you look at th

what -- just think about this, wolf. you know this -- you've been in the region, you've worked in the region, you understand this well. this is -- would be like 350 million americans knowing someone, a family, relative, who died in 9/11, the twin towers. that is what israel is going through. every single citizen in that country has faced what is unbelievable tragedy that they have never thought could happen. and so listen, yes, do i think this is essential for the state of israel security, without question. do i think it's important for its deterrence, absolutely. so i'm -- obviously my heart breaks for what israel is going through, and they have to do what they need do to deter this deterrence -- deter hamas from doing what they intended to do which is destroy the city of israel and create a regional war. that's their objective. that's what we have to stop. >> ambassador tom nides, thank you so much for joining us. >> stay safe, wolf. >> all right. thank you. >>> hostage negotiations led by qatar are ongoing right now d